ANATOMY OF A GREAT SCENE
A practical, planning-focused workshop for screenwriters who want their scenes to feel layered, purposeful, and professional
Learn how to design scenes that move the plot, reveal character, and create emotional impact — before you draft them.
ON-DEMAND WORKSHOP REPLAY
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The hardest part of writing isn’t writing.
It’s knowing what to write.
If you’ve been there, you’ve felt it:
You sit down to draft a scene. You have the general idea. But once you start typing…
The scene wanders. Dialogue stacks up. Description feels flat. Moments don’t land.
You end up with pages that don’t feel meaningful, layered, or engaging.
One thing you may notice when you read professionally written screenplays:
Great scenes are dense.
They move the plot
Reveal character.
Shift relationships.
Generate subtext.
Create emotional impact.
All at the same time.
Beginner scenes often do one thing. Professional scenes do many things at once.
When you’re staring at the blank page and struggling to write scenes people actually want to read, it’s easy to fall into the comparison trap and assume the issue is talent — but it’s not.
It’s preparation.
Great scenes don’t happen by accident.
They happen by design.
And that’s what you’ll learn inside the Anatomy of a Great Scene workshop.
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This Is a Planning Workshop
The Anatomy of a Great Scene workshop focuses on thinking through what belongs in a scene before you write it.
We work from the foundation up — because great scenes are built in layers.
And by the end of this workshop, you’ll have a system for collecting the raw materials of a scene so that when you sit down to draft, you know exactly what belongs on the page.
No more guessing. No more rambling dialogue. No more staring at a blank screen.
Inside the workshop you’ll learn:
Why the scene exists (spoiler alert: it’s all about the change)
How to build a strong foundation for the mini-movie of your scene
How to create layers of conflict (and when you can skip it altogether)
Keeping the audience engaged with escalation, urgency, and surprise
Using location and time to your advantage
How to mine character and relationships to increase scene density
And finally, we’ll look at how to map out a blueprint of your scene, so you know where you’re headed before you write the first word.
So your scenes aren’t just functional — they’re an experience.
If you’ve ever:
Written page after page of disconnected dialogue
Felt your scenes were boring, flat, or just not doing enough to keep readers interested
Received vague feedback like “it needs more tension”
This workshop will give you a practical way to think about scene construction.
What’s Included
✅ Workshop replay video
✅ Workshop slides (PDF)
✅ Scene-shaping questions quick reference (PDF)
✅ Scene discussion video: guided (and unedited) discussion about the example scenes — how they work, what they're accomplishing, and what we can learn from them
✅ Example scenes referenced in the discussion (PDF)
Watch the full workshop at your own pace and revisit it whenever you're planning or revising scenes.
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Meet your host
Hi, I’m Naomi, a screenwriting teacher and story consultant with 10+ years of experience helping screenwriters, producers, and directors develop their projects.
I was part of the development team at Maverick Films (Madonna + Guy Oseary’s production company), where I worked on projects like Twilight, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, and The Stanford Prison Experiment.
I also worked with Blake Snyder on his second Save the Cat! book and taught Save the Cat! workshops in Los Angeles.
Today, I help writers get unstuck and build scripts they’re proud of — using frameworks that are creative, repeatable, and actually fun to use.
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Common Questions
Is this suitable for beginners?
This is ideal for writers who have written at least a few scenes and want to understand why some work and some don’t.
Will we look at examples?
Yes. The workshop includes example scenes to illustrate the concepts in action.
How long do I have to watch the replay?
You’ll have lifetime access to the videos and materials, so you can revisit them anytime.
Know What to Write. Then Write It Well.
In under an hour, you’ll learn a practical framework for designing scenes before you draft them.
You’ll understand what change a scene must create, how to layer internal and external pressure, and how to shape a scene so it carries plot, character, and emotional weight at the same time.
Whether you’re outlining a new script or revising a draft that feels thin, this workshop gives you a practical way to build denser, more purposeful scenes.